On 20 December 2004, £26.5 million in cash was stolen from the headquarters of Northern Bank on Donegall Square West in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Having taken family members of two bank officials hostage, an armed gang forced the workers to help them steal both used and unused pound sterling banknotes. The money was then loaded into a van and driven away in two trips. This was one of the largest bank robberies in the history of the United Kingdom.